Chapter 20: Massimo

I walk back into my office and throw myself down on my chair. It’s after nine. Fucking late to be at work at this hour, even for a workaholic like me.

That visit from Nick and Cory yesterday led us all back on the streets when we found out some of the men we ally with were seen talking to guys who looked like Shadow members.

By the time we got to them most had scattered, and the two that were left behind couldn’t tell us shit.

It’s all so elaborate. Everything done in a way that’s so hushed men like me can’t break through and get to the culprits. Considering who I am, that’s near impossible.

Now I’m here at work when, truthfully, I should be home. I’ve taken the coward’s way out because I need to think, and I can’t do it when I’m around Emelia.

Yesterday was… Jesus. It was just one of those up-and-down days, and Gabriella’s presence at the house didn’t help. I never wanted her to meet Emelia.

What happened is exactly what I thought would happen, except Emelia grew a pair of balls I never saw coming. It shouldn’t have surprised me, because she’s a fighter.

What stayed with me was that look in her eyes after Gabriella left. It was a mingle of want and hate from the confusion of what we are, and what we’re not supposed to be.

I’m surprised when a knock sounds at my door. Everyone who would need me here has gone home for the day.

“Come in,” I call out, and I couldn’t be more surprised to see Gabriella when the door swings open.

“Gabriella, what the hell brings you here?” I ask. It’s a foolish question. I look at her and know exactly what she wants. It’s the same thing she said the other day. She wants to get back in my bed. Back on my cock.

That’s why she was at the house yesterday and why she’s here now.

Fuck…

She smiles. “I was looking for you. I went by the house again and was told you were still at work. I figured I should come and provide some much-needed stress relief.”

She floats into my lap and I instantly remember the last time I had her. Those bright green eyes flicker as she runs her hand over my chest and wiggles her ass over my cock.

“You’re hard,” she says with a wicked smile.

“Not for you,” I answer.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re still hard.” Seduction ripples off her in waves.

I stare back at her, holding her gaze. This has to be a new one for me. A new record. This is the second time I’ve been in the presence of this woman and had to think twice about whether or not I should be with her.

The first time I was pissed and in this weird frame of mind. What am I tonight?

Gabriella runs her fingers over my chest again, pulling me from the stupor of thought.

“Come. Let’s play around,” she urges, lowering her head to whisper into my ear. “Let me take care of your needs.”

I should do it. Fuck her and get Emelia out of my head.

Maybe that would do the trick. Maybe it’ll work if I’m with her and not some random whore I picked from the club.

If I were going to be with anyone, surely a woman I considered mine once would move the desire I have for Emelia out of my mind.

Even as I think that, though, Emelia’s beautiful face fills my thoughts. I see the pleasure on her face as I touch her, and the look of adoration in her eyes she tries to fight. The damn look is always there, even when I’ve pissed her off.

I imagine her soft skin and the gentleness in her kiss.

Emelia gave me her first kiss, and to me it felt like it was my first kiss too. It was certainly the only kiss I’ve ever had that made me feel passion.

I close my eyes when Gabriella runs her hand down my chest and shuffles so she can grab my cock and stroke my length.

“Do you have a condom?” she whispers into my ear. Her lips then brush along my neck.

“Yeah,” I answer. My voice sounds far away, like I’m hearing it on the edge of the wind.

A smile of triumph lights up her face. “Then fuck me,” she says, beckoning me with the crook of her finger.

She leans forward and kisses my neck.

When her lips touch my skin, I freeze up again thinking of Emelia, and I know I can’t do this. I know I can’t because it’s her I really want.

Fucking hell… This wasn’t supposed to happen. I want her, and I can’t do anything with Gabriella or anybody else because of that.

“Gabriella, stop.”

“What’s the matter?” she asks, straightening up.

“We’re not doing this,” I reply and lift her off me as I stand.

I step away from her but she grabs my arm. I glare at her in a way that should remind her who I am. She takes heed and releases me, righting herself.

“Why?” she challenges. “Because of her? Your trophy bride?”

I’m not ready to admit that to anybody, least of all her. I loom over her and she shudders under the weight of my stare.

“Watch it, Gabriella. Be careful. Remember who you’re talking to. I don’t want you tonight.”

She backs down and takes a step back. With that, I leave her.

My body moves on its own accord. Like I’m being summoned home. Home to Emelia.

I drive back thinking of her and yesterday. I think of how much she wanted me too. It’s not that late when I get home, but I don’t know if she’ll be asleep. Her bedroom door is open. When I approach, I stop and wait by the door when I see her kneeling on the floor. Before her are some little pots of makeup and white copier paper that she’s drawn on.

I make out swallows flying over a mountain. The sky is smudged with shades of blue and violet. She dips her fingers into one of the pots of eye shadow and smears it all over the areas that haven’t been touched.

I held back her art supplies because I had plans for them. Plans for her. Nothing malicious. It was just an idea, but I actually feel bad now as I watch her make use of whatever she could find to do what she loves.

She shuffles around onto her hands and knees so she can reach across for a large fan brush. Doing so gives me a view of her perfect ass in those short shorts.

It’s not until she shuffles back around that she sees me and jumps, startled.

The worry she usually exhibits when she’s with me instantly settles on her beautiful face. She stands up, readying herself for whatever I might have up my sleeves tonight.

We gaze at each other in silence for a few moments. She looks better than she did in my imagination, and what I conjured up was pretty damn good. What’s different is that longing, lurking beneath her stare. It reaches out to me and tells me she’s been thinking about me too.

I walk in and close the door, locking the latch so no one will disturb us. The staff will know that if they turn that handle and the door doesn’t open, they mustn’t knock. I don’t know what I plan to do to her yet. All I know is that I have to touch her.

I move closer and do exactly that. I touch her cheek, her soft, soft cheek, and she steps back, away from me.

“What now?” she asks.

My gaze drops to the rise and fall of her chest and the pulse of her heartbeat quickening.

“I wanted to see you,” I answer. As the words fall from my lips, I sense that part of me again that’s been locked away for years.

Locked away since that day when I found my mother in the river and saw her wide terrified eyes gazing back at me as if she were calling for my help from beyond the grave.

I look at Emelia and feel like the person I was before that happened. The man I could have been if I hadn’t been burned.

Her misty eyes narrow and brim with the disappointment I saw nights ago when she looks at my shirt.

“There’s lipstick on your collar,” she states.

Jealousy.

It’s all over her. Jealousy and hurt. Unlike the other day, however, I don’t want to taunt her about it.

“Is it hers?” she demands, staring me straight in the eye. “Gabriella’s?”

“Yes,” I reply. The hurt in her eyes deepens. I’ve never had a woman look at me like that before. Mostly because I’ve never given them the chance to believe we could be anything more than screwing around.

“Who is Gabriella to you, Massimo?”

“A friend,” I answer cautiously.

“A friend you sleep with?”

“Yes…” I answer and she looks visibly crushed at the declaration. Her chest and shoulders cave. Her brows pinch and her lips tremble.

“Get away from me,” she rasps and backs away.

I follow her until she backs right into the wall, unsteady. She makes a move to slip away, but I place my hands on the wall on either side of her, fencing her in.

“Get away from me, Massimo,” she mutters again.

“No,” I answer, and in that moment, I remember what Tristan said.

Think of what she is, not who she is. I said it was the same thing. It’s not. She’s a woman I’ve been attracted to for months. I got drawn into her. The same way I am now.

“I don’t want to do it tonight,” she says, shaking her head.

“Do what?”

A tear tracks down her cheek. “Listen to you tell me I’m nothing. I don’t want to hear about your night with her. I don’t need to be reminded that I’m with a man who isn’t mine. Now get out, get away—”

I don’t allow her to finish. Before she can say another word, I crush my lips to hers, capturing her pretty mouth. The second I taste her, all the desire I felt for her comes flooding back to me.

The taste of her—her sweetness, her innocence, everything—drives me fucking insane. I get drunk on the taste of her need for me.

It’s the same as mine.

The shock pulls me from the trance of the kiss. I move away slightly and take in her stunned expression and the desire in her eyes. It unlocks the restraint I placed on myself and compels me to tell her the truth.

“I didn’t sleep with her,” I tell her, shocking myself further. I explain myself to no one. Not my actions, nor my motives for doing anything. Yet this woman compels me to make her the exception. Especially when she does the unexpected thing of reaching up her dainty hand to touch my cheek.

It’s the first time she’s willingly touched me. It feels like being touched by an angel. A woman too pure for the likes of me. A woman who’s unbroken and uncorrupted.

She’s like having something hallowed in my presence, while I’m the devil waiting by the door to lead her down the path of temptation. She knows this. She’s completely aware of who and what I am, but she’s looking at me like she wants me. In her gaze, I see the path to redemption. Redemption from the vengeance I’ve sought for so long.

Suddenly, I don’t give a fuck about wanting to prove Riccardo wrong. It doesn’t matter, because as I look at her, I see who she is too. She’s just Emelia, and right now, I don’t care if she’s my enemy’s daughter.

When the beauty guides my face back to her lips, I go, answering passion’s call, pushing aside everything past and present so I can savor her.

Raw passion pulses from me to her when I feast on her delicious tongue. When she moans into my mouth, I smooth my free hand up to cup her left breast. Emelia responds by pressing against me, gripping my shirt.

With my lips still trained on hers, I move with her to the bed and set her down in the center. I only break from her lips to whip my shirt off and take hers off too.

Much to my satisfaction, she’s not wearing a bra underneath her top, so her beautiful breasts spill out. Instead of the terrified woman she was the other week, she gazes back at me with arousal brimming within her beautiful eyes.

“I want to fuck you, Emelia,” I husk and a crimson blush darkens her skin. Her chest rises and falls. Her breathing grows heavier. I want to fuck her so hard she’ll be screaming my name all night.

“I want to fuck you, Princesca. Please let me,” I add. It sounds like a plea.

“Yes,” she replies. “Fuck me.”

Hearing how I’ve already tainted her has me smiling.

I back off the bed. She lifts herself up onto her elbows to watch me as I strip off the rest of my clothes. When her eyes settle on my cock, I feel it harden all the more, and the bead of pre cum on the tip shows how much I want her.

I move to her and take off her shorts and her panties in one move, exposing her pretty pussy.

I want to bury my cock deep inside that virgin pussy and make her mine. Brand her as mine. Claim her in a way that when anybody looks at her, they’ll know just from the look in her eyes that she belongs to me. I know that I have to be careful, gentle. I’ve never fucked a virgin before, but I know everything will be new and scary for her. I don’t want her to have any fears tonight.

When I move back onto the bed and loom over her, she rests her hands on my shoulders.

“I don’t know how—” she begins, but I kiss her words away.

“You trust me. You trust me with your body,” I tell her.

Watching trust come into her beautiful eyes is a delight I never thought I’d see.

“I…trust you,” she says, moving in to kiss me.

I kiss her hard, then catch her face and stare at her, taking back control.

“Spread your legs for me.” I release my hold on her, and she obeys. My mouth waters as I watch her part her legs for me, her delicious globes bobbling as she moves, the rose tips hardening under my gaze. “Good girl.”

I nuzzle my face between her thighs, pushing my tongue into her tight cunt to warm her up.

Fuck, she’s already wet for me. I want to bring her to orgasm once before I take her so it will be easier on her. Easier and more enjoyable.

I lick over the hard nub of her clit, making her moan. When she holds onto my shoulders, I push in harder and suck on the little bud until she throws her head back and cries out my name.

My name on her pretty lips has me lifting my head to watch her come undone in my arms. I take in the image of pure pleasure on her face and commit it to memory. That’s how I want to remember her. That’s what I want to remember, no matter what happens.

“Massimo,” she gasps, reaching for me.

“It’s okay, Princess. That’s only the first taste of pleasure.” I dive back in and circle my tongue over her clit, inhaling the sweet feminine scent of her, lapping up my first taste of her juices as they begin to flow into my mouth. She comes hard, bucking and thrashing against my face, but I hold her ass and press her to me so I can take all that I want from her.

I lap up enough of her juices and leave just enough to guide me into her entrance. Getting back on my knees, I hold her thighs open. Our gazes tangle as I reach for my cock to guide it into her.

I never expected to be gentle about this. There’s nothing gentle about me, but I want to try for her.

I rub my cock over her pussy lips and push into her entrance, working my way in, inching into her virgin passage. I pause as her walls squeeze around the tip of my cock. Fuck, she’s so tight it’s almost painful, yet it’s fucking pleasurable at the same time.

“Massimo,” she gasps.

I run my fingers over her slender hips. “You’ll feel good soon, I promise.” On my word, I push past the tightness. She gasps when I slam through her maidenhead.

Emelia cries out again, and her eyes fill with a wild combination of pain and pure pleasure. All for me.

It’s now that she truly feels like she belongs to me.